Dancing Gracefully
by Hlpur
Summary: Harry and Hermione bring what comfort they can to Andromeda at the funeral.


Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

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**Dancing Gracefully**

Harry and Hermione walked into the small graveyard and taking a deep breath, headed over to the woman putting on a brave face. "Harry, Hermione," called Andromeda Tonks, "these are Ted's parents, Edward and Margaret Tonks. Ed, Maggie, this is Harry and Hermione Potter. They are Teddy's godparents and were very good friends to Dora and Remus."

"Hello," said Harry shaking Ed's hand. "I am very sorry for your loss."

"Annie said you got him?" Harry looked at him confused. He had no idea who Annie was. "The bastard that orchestrated this, that was doing all the killing."

"Oh, yes we won," replied Hermione.

"And you, you made sure that evil woman who killed my granddaughter paid?"

Hermione swallowed hard, she didn't know how to answer that. Taking someone's life was not something that she liked to dwell on, even if that person was Bellatrix Lestrange. "Um, yes, she was killed."

"Good. Now let me see the boy." Andromeda passed the infant to Edward who smiled gruffly then said, "Annie he has his mother's blue hair."

"It was orange yesterday, but he likes to make it blue for Harry and Hermione."

"We'll help you when we can Annie," said Ed. "Money when you need it, but we don't have much extra and we are a bit too old to care for the boy, don't much understand things like blue hair anyway."

Once the service began people got up to speak. Harry listened to stories about almost an entire family now gone. Sitting in a chair at the graveside of one of his parents' oldest friends, he realized that he lost the last of his connection to his mother and father, the last to be able to tell him who they were, what his mum's laugh sounded like. He looked over at Hermione who was holding Teddy tightly to her and he knew that he would make sure that Teddy knew his parents and what they died for.

Andromeda, escorted by Ed and Maggie Tonks, picked up a rose for each of the three coffins, Harry and Hermione followed immediately behind her. As they walked back to their seats Harry noticed a group of red heads in the back.

"Do you think we should say something?" he asked.

"It would be rude not to." It would be the first time they had seen Mrs. Weasley and Ginny since they left the Burrow several days before, since they made their relationship public.

Slowly they made their way to the group. Making sure that Ron saw them and had the chance to walk away should he need to. "Mr. Weasley," Harry said as he came up behind the older man. "Thank you for coming."

"Remus was a good man. He didn't deserve what happened, none of them did. I see you have the little tyke. You practicing?"

Smiling Hermione said, "Not really, Andromeda is busy with her in-laws so we took Teddy off her hands. It's peaceful holding him. Everything else just goes away."

"It's been a long time for me Hermione, but I do remember what you are saying."

Looking around the group he saw Ginny glaring at Hermione. Not really knowing what to think about it he just shook his head. His gaze then fell on Ron. "You all right Ron?"

"Um, yeah. Thanks for that pie thing and the fizzy drink, for thinking of me."

Tilting her head Hermione looked at him then said, "Why wouldn't we think of you? Besides if we sent just one pizza home with Fleur, there wouldn't have been enough for she and Bill."

No one really knew what to say. Molly Weasley began to speak several times then stopped. It was like she was waiting for the two teens to say something to her. Just as George was about to lighten the mood they heard Andromeda scream, "Get away from my baby's grave. Get away from her. You are one of the reasons why she is here. You and your sister and those like you. Leave. Leave and don't come back."

Harry and Hermione hurried back to where they had left Andromeda Tonks followed closely by most of the Weasleys. As they got closer they could see Narcissa Malfoy standing several feet from her sister. "Meda, I just came to say..."

"I don't care what you came to say. Nothing you have to say matters. You who never knew my child, never bothered to get to know her. You thought you were better than her, her father, and husband. What made you think that you could come here today?"

"I just wanted to try and make things right, I..."

"Did you try and stop her? Did you ever think to stand up to that foul creature you pledged your soul to and tell him he was wrong? Did you take your sister's wand from her so she couldn't do it? You make me sick. Helping Harry at the end may have saved you from a death sentence, but I will be all too happy when your punishment is read and you have to spend a lifetime in Azkaban. It might even be harsher than death for you."

Narcissa Malfoy just blinked at her older sister. "I didn't want this, Meda. He was too powerful; there was nothing I could do."

"Nothing you could do? You are a coward. Everyone else here did something, they stood up to him, risked their lives again and again. You could have chosen to also. You let him stay in your house. My grandson's godmother was tortured in your house by your sister while you watched. I am glad that Hermione is the one who will be teaching Dora's son right from wrong, not someone like you." She studied Narcissa a bit longer then said, "You didn't help Harry because you had a change of heart. You were hoping to get something out of it. You are not a selfless person, Narcissa, you never have been. You were a greedy spoilt child, only concerned about what you had. I don't believe you had a change of heart." She looked up and saw Harry and Hermione standing next to her with their wands out, but not quite drawn. "Harry would you please escort Mrs. Malfoy to the Apparition point. She won't be coming back."

"Of course." He looked at Narcissa Malfoy and gestured in the direction they needed to go, "Mrs. Malfoy, if you please."

"I..."

"Mrs. Malfoy, please allow me to show you out." She nodded reluctantly then walked with him through the crowd with Ron and Bill Weasley falling in behind Harry.

Standing next to the three coffins, Andromeda Tonks sat hard on the ground. Passing the baby to Fleur, Hermione sat next to Andromeda and pulled the older woman to her, giving her a place to finally cry for all that she had lost.

Ed Tonks had been watching the exchange, he didn't pretend to understand wizards and other then the twice annual visit from his son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter, he had never met another magical person, so a cemetery full of witches and wizards was a bit unnerving to him. Still, he was curious as to what just happened. Figuring that if she was trusted to hold the baby, she might have a general idea what was going on, Ed leaned over to Fleur and asked, "What was that about and who was that woman?"

Instead of Fleur answering it was Arthur Weasley. "That is Narcissa Black Malfoy. She is Andromeda's younger sister. Technically anyway, Andromeda was disowned by the Blacks after leaving Hogwarts. They were arguing because Narcissa's husband and to a lesser extent Narcissa herself were ardent supporters of You-Know-Who. Their older sister was Bellatrix Lestrange."

"Should that name mean anything to me?"

Answering from her seat on the ground Hermione said, "It was Bellatrix that killed Remus and Dora."

"Hermione," came a soft voice from Hermione's shoulder.

"Yes"

"I'm ready to go now. Dora is with Remus and Ted, they'll take care of her now."

"I'm sure they will."

With a hand smoothing over the rosewood coffin, she said, "Dora use to practice dancing. She wanted to dance. When she was in labor with Teddy, Remus promised her that he would put on several extra pair of socks to pad his feet and as long as she was barefoot he would clear an area large enough so she couldn't knock anything over, then dance with her. Do you think that he's taken her dancing?"

"If Remus promised her a dance, then he surely has and she was beautiful, he dressed her up as a princess. Her hair is short and bright pink and her dress is beautiful and she is dancing gracefully."

"Dora never did anything gracefully in her entire life, but maybe now? Do you think?"

"There is no doubt."


End file.
